Pediatric home care: reimbursement and cost benefit analysis

Home care has been described as the fastest growing component of personal health care spending, and pediatric home care as the fastest growing segment of the home care field. Because of the continued progress in pediatric medicine and advances in technology, a growing population of children with complex chronic and terminal conditions can be cared for at home. A growing subspecialty in pediatric health care is delivering services for infants and children with HIV infection or AIDS and those born to mothers addicted to drugs or alcohol. This article describes the reimbursement and cost-benefit issues surrounding pediatric home health care, with particular attention to the HIV/AIDS pediatric population.